www.keithvargo.org

I am a writer, fighter, and martial artist based in Tokyo, Japan. I was a contributing editor for Black Belt magazine for 17 years, where I wrote the popular monthly column, "Way of the Warrior." I've also written for FightSport magazine, Karate/Kung-fu Illustrated, Sports World Japan, Maxfighting.com, and MMA-Japan.net. Click on the links in the lefthand column of this site to read some samples of my writing.

I am also the author of The Soul of Fighting: Martial Arts, Combat Sports, and the Search for Warrior Wisdom and Philosophy of Fighting: Morals and Motivations of the Modern Warrior. Those books are collections of my best columns, spanning nearly two decades of writing for Black Belt. The books explore how morality, mysticism, aesthetics, science, and human nature cross paths in the fighting arts. Click the book covers in the left column to learn more about them or order a copy.

Below are some reviews of my books (with links). To see more reader reactions to my work, check the brief reviews on Amazon.

I began my martial arts training in 1984 under judo champion Jordie Hamilton and later attended Radford University, participating in the United States' only college-level martial arts training program. In 1996 I graduated from Radford with a B.A. in Psychology and a Certificate in Multi-Cultural Self-Defense.

Since moving to Tokyo in 2000, I've devoted myself to mixed martial arts, training for 10 years at the world-renowned Takada Dojo and learning from top fighters like Kazushi Sakuraba, Akira Shoji, and Yoon Dong Sik. I was also the first non-Japanese to earn a shodan (1st degree black belt) from Takada Dojo. More recently, I've trained with Shooto legend and ZST tag-team grappling champion Naoya Uematsu and welterweight grappling champion Kohei Yasumi.

My writing is informed by my experiences as an active competitor. I fought both as an amateur in Pre-PRIDE, PRIDE Challenge, and Shootboxing, and as a pro or semi-pro in DEEP, BoxFight and Kingdom Ehrgeiz events. I've also fought in many submission wrestling matches and tournaments as well. Below is an outline of that competitive history. For more details and additional pictures, click on the links under "Fight Results" below.

In 2001, I participated in Tokai TV's Pre-PRIDE, an MMA reality show. The fighters on the show trained at the best gyms in Japan for a few months and then fought each other in an 8-man, one-night tournament. The prize was a chance to turn pro and fight in a PRIDE Fighting Championship event. Pre-PRIDE helped launch the careers of many fighters, including UFC fighters Yushin Okami and Eiji Mitsuoka. In the Pre-PRIDE 3 tournament, I made it to the final match, but lost by decision. The picture to the left is from that match. You can even see the first president of the PRIDE Fighting Championships, the late Naoto Morishita, watching the action in the bottom lefthand corner.

My best MMA performances were in DEEP and Kingdom Ehrgeiz events. In June 2007, I fought in an event for the DEEP promotion called Oyaji DEEP. It was an event for older fighters that was broadcast on Samurai TV. In it, competitors age 35 and up fought under full MMA rules. I was matched up against a judo black belt and scored a TKO in 14 seconds, my fastest win.
My fight in Kingdom Ehrgeiz was at their 10th Anniversary show and I fought under the name "John Gabriel." It was a Kingdom-rules match, meaning MMA rules with pro-wrestling rope escapes and "catch" points for near submissions. My opponent was bare-knuckles karate fighter and bench press champion Mitsuyuki Kaneya. After a brief exchange of punches, we clinched, I scored a takedown, and then finished the fight with an arm lock at 1:27 of the first round.

My best showing came in March 2007 at the 17th All-Japan Amateur Shootboxing Tournament. Winning this tournament is often a stepping stone to a pro fight career. In the past, it's been won by top fighters like shootboxing welterweight champion Kenichi Ogata and MMA star Hayato "Mach" Sakurai.
Again, I fought three times in one day. This time, I won all of my matches decisively, even knocking the opponent down three times in the final match. That made me the 2007 All-Japan Amateur Heavyweight Shootboxing Champion.

Shortly after turning 40, I fought the biggest single match of my small-time fight career, a professional boxing match at Tokyo's fabled Korakuen Hall. I fought in front of a packed house on the BoxFight: First Impact undercard, sharing the bill with K-1 kickboxing champ Hiromi Amada and MMA legend Daiju Takase. Again fighting under the ring name "John Gabriel," I was matched up against 27 year old MMA fighter Eisuke Suzuki. I managed to stayed competitive with my younger opponent by relying on defense and counterpunching and ended up narrowly winning the match via majority decision.

In addition to MMA and boxing, I've also fought in a number of submission wrestling matches and tournaments. In August 2016, I entered the 1st Asian Combat Wrestling Tournament and, at the age of 46, managed to place first in both the men's 100+ kilo division and the master's A (over 40) 100+ kilo division. I also placed 1st at the 2017 World Combat Wrestling Championships in the men's veterans B (over 45) 100+ kilo division. My last professional grappling match was in November 2013. Then 43, I was matched with 25 year old Pancrase and DEEP veteran Tatsuhiko Nishizaka and fought to a draw at the Kingdom Spirit 2013 show. But my biggest grappling match was in January 2010. That's when I fought PRIDE, K-1, and UFC veteran Satoshi Honma in the DEEP X Future King tournament, narrowly beat him via judges' decision, and won the heavyweight division.

I'm currently working on Kakutougi Boom: Reports from the Glory Years of Combat Sports in Japan. This new book will be a collection of fighter profiles, interviews, and event reports I wrote during the reign of two legendary fight promotions: PRIDE and K-1. Readers will get to see the events through the eyes of someone who was there for one of the most exciting and controversial eras in the history of fighting sports. Readers who'd like a preview can check out the free sample of Kakutougi Boom in the "Coming Soon" section on the left.

After finishing that book, I'll be working on two projects: a practical guide to doing fighting sports as you get older and an account of my two decades of living, training and fighting in Japan. The first will help those who love fighting sports to either start or continue competing in them well into middle age and beyond. The second will be a martial arts memoir with information and anecdotes not found in my other books.

Below are links to the results of some of my matches. Click on them for details. (Sorry, most of the pages are in Japanese only.)